Solutions: Repairing Scratches on Wood Furniture

To cover scratches on wood furniture, rub a matching color crayon into the scratch and smooth with the fingers. Heat and oil from your finger will blend in the crayon. Alternatively, cover with petroleum jelly overnight. Rub in well, remove excess and buff.

To fix light scratches or blemishes on walnut, rub the scratch with a piece of walnut or pecan meat, then wax with the product you normally use.

For mahogany, rub the scratch with a dark brown crayon or a brown commercial wax product, then buff with your fingers, then a cloth.

For red mahogany, apply ordinary iodine with a small brush and wax with the product you normally use.

For maple, add iodine to denatured alcohol to get the right color and apply with a q-tip, then dry, wax and buff.

For furniture scratches, rub the meat of the walnut (no shell!) over any scratches or nicks. Test the method on a less visible area to be sure it doesn't darken the wood. I haven't yet had a problem with this.

I bought a nice oak look cabinet at a thrift store for my redecorated bathroom but it had some scratches and nicks. At the dollar store, I bought a bottle of brown liquid shoe wax and with a cotton ball went gently over the nicks, scratches and worn spots. It looks like a new cabinet. Now, if I could only remember where I put the knobs I would like to put on it. LOL

Questions

I have a coffee table that is a dark wood finish. It was given to me by my husband's mother, not exactly sure how old it is. It is starting to loose its shiny service and upon that my son decided to play on it and has made several scratches on the surface. How can I bring back the shine and make the scratches at least a little less noticeable.

Lisa from Vacaville, CA

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Most Recent Answer

By Alma (Guest Post)06/14/2008

Does anyone know how to repair damage done by acetone? I accidentally dropped nail polish remover on my new coffee table and caused damaged. It looks awful! Any help would be appreciated.

I've just purchased a second hand table. In transport it was scratched by accident. It's a clear varnished maple coloured table. The scratches are white and quite deep. Does anyone have any ideas how to cover them? Thanks.

A tip for covering scratches on dark furniture - Using a partially green walnut husk, simply rub the scratch until you're satisfied with the darkening effect. Now apply furniture polish to the entire piece, and the scratch will be gone. (I also suggest wearing rubber gloves to avoid staining your fingers with the walnut dye.)

I put a flower pot on my sister's new dining room table while I was arranging flowers and have scratched her table as I was turning the pot while adjusting the flowers. There are many scratches, but not deep ones. Is there a way to fix this short of buying her a new dining room set? The table is dark wood, but there is no polished shine.

Theresa from Newfoundland

RE: Removing Scratches From Wood Table

If you can find a product called "Old English Furniture Polish and Scratch Cover". It is a tinted furniture polish. If that is unavailable, you may be able to sharpen a child's wax crayon that matches the wood and lightly apply to the scratches and then wipe away excess. (08/20/2008)

By Suze

RE: Removing Scratches From Wood Table

I have used this before on dark wood. Take a pecan and rub on the scratches. Hope this helps! (08/21/2008)

By Norma

RE: Removing Scratches From Wood Table

They sell special brown crayons to fill in tiny scratches, and they will truly be forever invisible. Any fine furniture store will know where you can get them, or just search "furniture scratch crayons". (08/21/2008)

RE: Removing Scratches From Wood Table

I've used crayons before and found they are only good for a very superficial scratch. I had deeper scratches and nicks in a beautiful wood cabinet. I used a marker pen in the wood color. It looked and went on exactly like a magic marker. What worked great for me is that I filled in the scratch or nick with the marker not being careful at all with going outside the lines, filling it in well all over. Then I took a steel wool pad, but not the regular ones, the one which has little squiggly pieces and doesn't scratch at all. I put some olive oil on it and rubbed over the marker. That took the marker off any flat spot and left the marker only in the scratch or nick itself. The cabinet looks like new now! (11/21/2009)

An antique dealer told me this useful trade secret for covering up light scratches on dark wood furniture. Take a shelled walnut and rub it along the scratch several times, then wax or polish as normal and rub to a shine.

An antique dealer told me this useful trade secret for covering up light scratches on dark wood furniture. Take a shelled walnut and rub it along the scratch several times, then wax or polish as normal and rub to a shine.